DGT and AESVI present the Decalogue of Children’s Road Safety
On March 1, we attended the general assembly of AESVI (Spanish Alliance for Children’s Road Safety) held at the headquarters of the General Directorate of Traffic, where the Decalogue of Children’s Road Safety was approved, a set of essential measures to be taken into account when safely moving minors in vehicles and whose objective is that no child dies or suffers serious injuries when traveling as an occupant of a vehicle.
AESVI encompasses most of those involved in child road safety, including: manufacturers of child restraint systems, importers of child seats, automobile clubs, universities, paediatricians, emergency departments, the National Association of Midwives, the DGT, the Catalan Traffic Service, the Basque Country Traffic Directorate, consumers, the National Association of Child Safety, CEAPA and the State security forces and bodies.
This decalogue represents the commitment of all the entities that make up the Alliance to harmonize the messages addressed to parents, guardians and other people who are in charge of transporting minors in vehicles, so that they do it correctly. It is the first time in the history of Spain that all the parties involved in the road safety of minors come together with a single objective, which is to improve the protection of this group.
The ten basic rules of children’s road safety have been agreed upon by all AESVI participants.
In addition to remembering that Minors must always be restrained in a child restraint system that is approved and in accordance with their size and/or weight, and that they must be located in the rear seats, the decalogue goes further, recommending that the child be taken rear-facing, that the elderly use seats with a backrest at least up to 1.35 meters as it provides more protection against side impacts; Do not place or leave loose objects, luggage or pets in the vehicle next to minors or that in the event of an accident, and whenever possible, the child must be removed from the car with their child restraint system and never do so in arms.
In addition, the decalogue recalls that the safety of the minor also depends on the driver, so it is essential to respect the rules, drive calmly and relaxed, without aggressiveness or abruptness, leaving a safe space, and adjusting the speed to the circumstances of the traffic.
PRIORITY OBJECTIVE
The protection of the most vulnerable users, including children, is one of the priorities established by the DGT in the Road Safety Strategy 2010-2020. This document establishes as an objective the improvement in the efficient use of child restraint systems and established as a concrete and quantifiable indicator “Zero children who died without child restraint systems”.
The correct use of restraint systems is essential as it reduces the risk of injury in the event of an accident by 50% to 80%. The latest consolidated data, 2016, show that 3 of the 18 children under 11 years of age who were travelling in cars or vans did not have a restraint system.
In addition, another 46 minors were injured of varying degrees, many of them for not having their child restraint system installed correctly or for not being properly secured to the child seat. On urban roads, where most of the journeys made are short-distance, the number of people injured in hospital by accident increased by 5%, while the rest of the ages decreased by 1%.
